I will sing and I will make music

This piyyut is perhaps the earliest yotser (yotzer) written on the Song of Songs. A yotser is meant to be recited inside the blessing before the Shema‘ that begins “He who creates (yotser) light.” This one was likely intended for recitation on Passover, when the Song of Songs would be read in the synagogue. Its themes connect to some of the blessings; this excerpt focuses on the Exodus from Egypt. Many later authors would come to imitate Qillir’s choices here and integrate Song of Songs into their own yotserot. The biblical city of Zoan, in Egypt, here stands in for the Egyptians in general.